Bound for Glory (Plume)

First published in 1943, this autobiography is also a superb portrait of America's Depression years, by the folk singer, activist, and man who saw it all. One of Guthrie's first published writings, it is an important artifact of musical and political history, and a precedent for Guthrie's long lost novel, House of Earth, to be published in 2013 and edited by Johnny Depp and Douglas Brinkley. First published in 1943, this autobiography is also a superb portrait of America's Depression years, by the folk singer, activist, and man who saw it all. Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma and traveled this whole country over—not by jet or motorcycle, but by boxcar, thumb, and foot. During the journey of discovery that was his life, he composed and sang words and music that have become a national heritage. His songs, however, are but part of his legacy. Behind him Woody Guthrie left a remarkable autobiography that vividly brings to life both his vibrant personality and a vision of America we cannot afford to let die. "Even readers who never heard Woody or his songs will understand the current esteem in which he's held after reading just a few pages... Always shockingly immediate and real, as if Woody were telling it out loud... A book to make novelists and sociologists jealous." — The Nation From the Trade Paperback edition. The late folksinger and composer provides a personal portrait of the first thirty years of his life, from his childhood in Oklahoma to the early years of World War II